Jerry Lewis was an auteur with a long and shape-shifting career, from TV to the movies

Los Angeles Times

Lewis’ insistence on doing it his way helped paved the way for the careers of people like Louis C.K., who’s also worked in TV, the stage and the big screen. From his Variety TV work with Dean Martin to the Jerry Lewis telethons, “much of what Lewis did was not only popular but novel,” says Steven Zeitchik, “in part because he was subtly channeling something more personal in that work. Beneath the comedian's absurdist, expressionist humor ‎was a hint of melancholy. No one, after all, tries that hard to earn audience laughter without needing something deep and existential.” PLUS: Lewis’ telethon raised $2.5 billion for muscular dystrophy, Lewis co-hosted 3 Oscar ceremonies, how Frank Sinatra reunited Martin and Lewis on 1976 MDA telethon, and relive Lewis’ last performance on his MDA telethon in 2010.